ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Liar!!!!! Only Cat 3 or below….

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Speaking of rain...we don't have to wish for hurricanes so far due to the rain, but does anyone know if the moisture and rain has a notable effect on the breeding or population expansion of the NWS? Does it favor drier or wetter conditions?

Centerpole90 said:

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Overwintering map from 50s:

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My dad and I are responsible for submitting about 25 of those dots in the Edwards Plateau...

HTownAg98 said:

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SanAntoneAg said:

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On free range deer, how does one regulate doseage through consumption of said medicated feed?

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You can't. That's the problem. And worse, if the deer don't get enough, you can create flies with immunity.

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Exactly.

Curios if Permethrin soaked back rubbers like the ones we use for cattle would possibly work for deer.
Could build pens so deer could only enter feed pens thru a gate with the back rubbers across the top- just like with cattle.

A lot of ideas like this have been researched for the fever tick. I've seen experimental wipes hanging where nilgai cross. They are big offenders in the fever tick battle.

Deerdude said:

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I may or may not know anything about the box found in the pasture unopened with all flies inside. That box later taken to San Antonio where it was stuck thru the front door mail slot at The Mean Lady's house and opened.

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My grandfather told me this story:

When he was a young boy( early 1930s depression), they lived in a very rural area south of San Antonio.

One day his mother saw a plane flying over and something fell out of the plane. She had heard the government was dropping boxes of food for people struggling to find something to eat. She rushed to get the box thinking it was food. She reached down to pick it up and it busted open and she was covered in sterile screwworm flies. She was fit to be tied from the flies and thoroughly disappointed it was not food.

My grandfather was the oldest of 9 surviving siblings. His mom lost two sets of twins and a girl at the beginning of the depression.

BrazosDog02 said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Liar!!!!! Only Cat 3 or below….

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Speaking of rain...we don't have to wish for hurricanes so far due to the rain, but does anyone know if the moisture and rain has a notable effect on the breeding or population expansion of the NWS? Does it favor drier or wetter conditions?

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Wet is friendly to it. Dry slows them down.

I would think that hurrican winds blowing correctly could carry flies as well. I've been 100 miles offshore just after a hurricane and had not sea birds land in rigging of boat I guess to rest. No telling how they got out there.

Man, I don't know how to effectively keep this under control. I have cattle across two of our ranches and three pastures. All are within a few miles of each other but the cattle aren't going to let me inspect or do anything if I see wounds. I'm going to have to get my chutes back in order and brush up on our horse skills and then carve out a day a few times a week to check them all out.

Will that be enough or should I be checking on them more? The wife and I both handle it so we have two people. But is that frequent enough?

Don't know. I've moved my cattle into tick quarantine zone near Rio Grande River. I enrolled in voluntary program whereas every four weeks I gather, usually alone, because a feed bucket is easier than a horse, and guv tick riders come out and inject them with Dectomax. This is for ticks and works well but they assure me that it's good for NWS as well.
Yea you should probably get your working chute in order.

Dashboard link:

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animals/animal-health/livestock-and-poultry-disease/current-status/us-confirmed-cases-new-world

Curious what steps you guys near the zone are taking. I'm currently 90 miles east of La Pryor. Should I stop shooting pigs for the time being? I'd hate to create a hatchery of sorts with my occasional evening sit / pig shoot.

Hadn't thought about that. Will they lay eggs in dead carcass? We are NW Encinal, I'd guess 40 miles from those cases. My cattle though are in Zapata county. Something to plan for for wildlife.

Actually doing a little reading as I sit and wait for the pigs to show up.

According to NC State University entomologist Maxwell Scott, an expert on the screwworm, they don't lay eggs in dead carcasses.

https://cals.ncsu.edu/news/what-to-know-about-the-new-world-screwworm/

While I had to learn about C. hominivorax during vet school, it wasn't something we were overly concerned about at the time.

So would blasting pigs be vet recommended by you? Sandy Leyendecker in Encinal is my vet of record and I haven't talked to her about it. Bet she's busy now in La Pryor.

TX_COWDOC said:

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Curious what steps you guys near the zone are taking. I'm currently 90 miles east of La Pryor. Should I stop shooting pigs for the time being? I'd hate to create a hatchery of sorts with my occasional evening sit / pig shoot.

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Guess it all depends on how good a shot you are. If you shoot them dead, there is not a problem. NWS larvae only feed on living flesh.

If you're prone to wounding them and they run off, you have an animal of which a female screwworm could lay eggs on.

ETA, just went back and read your next post where you answered your own question!

DannyDuberstein said:

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If you think your job sucks, just think about the person who has to use a tiny little hand to confirm the flies are sterile

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100 million a week baby.

Has anyone seen a map of the current fly drop zone? Curious what counties are included.

I'm hoping Uvalde but am not sure.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I'm hoping Uvalde but am not sure.

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How far south do they go? South America? Once under control, seems like a great candidate for eradication. Keep dropping sterile males until you can no longer catch a female.

Senasica has a map showing confirmed cases in Mexico, trap locations, and dispersal area. Not sure this has been updated to show dispersal in La Pryor. I've heard they are releasing 6 million sterile flies in the quarantine zone.

https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiMjkzMzAzMzUtZmRlNi00ZTMzLTk1NDEtNjkzZTEwNzZjZGFlIiwidCI6ImM1OWRjNTZhLTkzZWMtNGIwNy1iNzFkLTQzYzg0NDkyNTcxOCIsImMiOjR9

So, these areas where they are found are quarantined, and while this will be bad for the Texas beef side, it looks like these will be tough to spread too far north. Here in the hill country and gulf coast, the ground doesn't get cold enough to kill them, but that's not the case further north. It's still a ton of area of cover, but it seems they can get this controlled if they can get the sterile flies going ASAP.

What worries me is that cattle in our area are loaded to the gills with *****ly pear and mesquite in the pastures. So these animals ALWAYS have lesions and open wounds all the time. If this is the case, it seems nearly impossible to control. I know for us, being able to effectively treat all of our animals weekly would be quite difficult if not impossible. If this becomes a thing, I'd probably be reducing my heard by a LOT in order to make it manageable for two people. We are a two person show.

Jason_Roofer said:

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So, these areas where they are found are quarantined, and while this will be bad for the Texas beef side, it looks like these will be tough to spread too far north. Here in the hill country and gulf coast, the ground doesn't get cold enough to kill them, but that's not the case further north. It's still a ton of area of cover, but it seems they can get this controlled if they can get the sterile flies going ASAP.

What worries me is that cattle in our area are loaded to the gills with *****ly pear and mesquite in the pastures. So these animals ALWAYS have lesions and open wounds all the time. If this is the case, it seems nearly impossible to control.

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In the 60s, northern OK was the stopping point in winter, but it would advance further in the summer.

Bucks in velvet are very susceptible as are new born fawns

Jason_Roofer said:

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So, these areas where they are found are quarantined, and while this will be bad for the Texas beef side, it looks like these will be tough to spread too far north. Here in the hill country and gulf coast, the ground doesn't get cold enough to kill them, but that's not the case further north. It's still a ton of area of cover, but it seems they can get this controlled if they can get the sterile flies going ASAP.

What worries me is that cattle in our area are loaded to the gills with *****ly pear and mesquite in the pastures. So these animals ALWAYS have lesions and open wounds all the time. If this is the case, it seems nearly impossible to control. I know for us, being able to effectively treat all of our animals weekly would be quite difficult if not impossible. If this becomes a thing, I'd probably be reducing my heard by a LOT in order to make it manageable for two people. We are a two person show.

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If you have a chute it's not difficult. We are a two man show and monthly run them thru and inject. My cattle respond well to a feed bucket and come to a horn honk.

Deerdude said:

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Jason_Roofer said:

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So, these areas where they are found are quarantined, and while this will be bad for the Texas beef side, it looks like these will be tough to spread too far north. Here in the hill country and gulf coast, the ground doesn't get cold enough to kill them, but that's not the case further north. It's still a ton of area of cover, but it seems they can get this controlled if they can get the sterile flies going ASAP.

What worries me is that cattle in our area are loaded to the gills with *****ly pear and mesquite in the pastures. So these animals ALWAYS have lesions and open wounds all the time. If this is the case, it seems nearly impossible to control. I know for us, being able to effectively treat all of our animals weekly would be quite difficult if not impossible. If this becomes a thing, I'd probably be reducing my heard by a LOT in order to make it manageable for two people. We are a two person show.

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If you have a chute it's not difficult. We are a two man show and monthly run them thru and inject. My cattle respond well to a feed bucket and come to a horn honk.

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Monthly does not seem adequate, though. If I can inject my cattle once a month to prevent an issue, then I am not sure why we are panicking at all. What's the catch? Feels like a good way to get a resistance built. No?

That's what the tick riders tell us. Actually 21-28 day span for ticks and supposed to be good for flies. 45 days is not working for ticks so I'd guess not enough for flies either. With 45 day withdrawal period some neighbors tried to stretch it, but failed.